Misery Needs Company
by vvheel
Summary: He reminded the world that he wasn't much of a saint, himself. Post-Raw 07/01/14. Dean/Emma.


**I own nothing.**

**Here's to the Demma and Emma fans, through thick and thin.**

To say he was aggravated was an understatement. The tape on his hands was too tight and the cast protecting his left shoulder was a constant reminder that he was weak, that he was vulnerable. He refused to be vulnerable. Trudging down the back hallway of the venue, he hardly noticed anyone around him until, far to his left, he spotted a woman leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. She was playing with the ends of her hair and the look on her face was pure agitation.

He wasn't such an ignorant guy that he didn't know who she was. He just made a point not to associate with her or many others on the roster. For multiple reasons, mainly because they were either completely unlike him or it would come back to bite him in the ass. She was one of those comedic wrestlers. Some of the wrestlers with less tact called her the female Santino. Honestly, with how she was on stage, they weren't far off.

Something he could give her credit for, though, was that she was an absolute ray of sunshine. And he didn't mean that in a stupid adoring way. She legitimately was the happiest person you could be around. Her and Sami Zayn combined would be more powerful than the sun. Whenever she skipped along, people were drawn to her presence in good and bad ways. It was unfortunate that her general positivity made people wary of her.

Now, people were more wary than ever. Being a top superstar meant you got to hear all the fun rumors first. Backstage had been a buzz about her arrest right up until curtain call. Reports were that Vince and Stephanie McMahon were shoved in the middle of a fight between Kevin Dunn and Triple H. It was getting ugly. A couple of guys in the locker room were talking about it – saying she stole something or some shit – and were finally shut down by a rare sight: one very pissed off and serious Santino. Dean wasn't paying much attention to the whole exchange, but he found it pretty impressive that Santino would go out of his way to challenge men twice his size to protect Emma's honor.

The woman to his left wasn't the Emma he knew of. She had that appearance where she was trying to put on a casual face, but she was freaking out inside. He knew that look well because he'd seen it staring back at him. He'd kept quiet about his previous stints with the law, mostly because when the media took hold of it, they ran with it to high hell.

He remembered being 19 and stealing liquor from gas stations. Usually he'd gotten away with it, until one time he didn't. He remembered feeling like his entire world would shut down. Now that he was rich and famous, (he guessed, he was told that on many occasions) losing his job would ruin everything for him. Rumors be damned, that woman loved her job and there was no way she would risk it by stealing something that cost less than 30 bucks. Hell if she needed 30 bucks, he'd give it to her.

He thought briefly of maybe going right up to her. She really did look like a scared little kid huddled in that corner, but he was either a sociopath or chicken shit because he almost walked right past her. He had been working for the WWE for years now, but nothing could prepare him for a camera suddenly shoved in his face. He took a moment to glance between it and Renee Young before he could acknowledge what she was saying.

He gave her his reply, looking right into her brown eyes as he spoke. He could softly hear talking behind him, the unmistakeable voice of Santino Marella and a softer one. A sadder one. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him. Renee furrowed her eyebrows when he went into his story about when he went to jail for two months. He was a bit loud about it too. It was foolish, really, because Renee was giving him a strange look. They had been hanging out off camera for a couple of months and he was starting to maybe entertain the idea of asking her for a date formally...but fuck it, he was Dean Ambrose. He told her his jail time story, every gritty detail. He told it right into the cameras, right into the television sets of millions.

And sure, maybe he lost a potential date, maybe he lost a vital part of building himself as a new man, but at the end of the day he wasn't going to change for anybody else. He wasn't a very considerate man, but remembering how he felt as an embarrassed "criminal" looked down upon by his peers, he felt for Emma. So if they wanted to judge her for accidentally stealing some stupid pointless thing, they would have to judge him too. I mean, beating a man half to death for cutting him off in traffic? Yeah not his most proud moment.

The light in Renee's eyes was dulled a bit despite her smile and he was sure he would get a private scolding from his friend for such a shoddy interview, but he was able to leave on that note. He would promise her a proper interview later. As he ripped off the rest of his tape he headed back to his rental. The exit was past Emma and Santino.

Santino was talking to her, but as he glanced to her, he saw her pretty blue eyes meet his. A smirk grew on his face and he found some reassurance in the small smile she returned.

It wasn't much of a ray of sunshine, but it was something.


End file.
